Another de-commit for Falcons

Andrew Podbielski, who was a long-standing verbal commit to BG, has de-committed and will attend Bucknell.  Andrew is from PA and is a 4.0+ student.  According to this article, he was set up to go to BG, but he's a TE and doesn't see a fit in the Babers spread attack.  He also visited EMU and CMU before picking Bucknell.  He's the 2nd TE that has left the class, the other being JUCO TE Brock Hinkel, whose de-commit was in the Blade on January 28.

Silly Season Continues....BG loses commit to Louisville

So, mere hours after learning that BG had picked up a player formerly committed to Louisville, now the Falcons have a verbal commit heading out....to Louisville.

Officially committed to univeristy of Louisville ❤️🙏☝️🏈
— The Black Guy (@Javonte_bagley) February 3, 2014

This young man is Javonte Bagley.  He's from Vero Beach and committed to BG on January 8.  Best of luck to him.  It is a big decision and I hope things work out for him.

In the meantime, hold on to your hats.  This could be a crazy 36 hours.

Cincinnati.com reporting very high profile BG football verbal

Walnut Hills strong safety Nilijah Ballew verbally committed to Bowling Green, says Walnut Hills coach George Kontsis #enqr
— Mike Dyer (@MikeDyer) February 3, 2014

Cincinnati.com is reporting that Nilijah Ballew has committed to Bowling Green.  This is a huge get for BG.

He was committed to Louisville in April.  When Charlie Strong left, he felt that the new coaches neglected him and started to look around.  He was Louisville's highest ranked recruit.

He is a 6'2", 200 lb strong safety from Cincinnati Walnut Hills.

So, first, Louisville.  ESPN ranks him as a 3-star recruit and Rivals as a a 4-star and #27 at his position.

He was Division I all-area for the Cincinnati Enquirer.  He was also second team all-state.

He is the 4th high-profile commitment signed by BG since Coach Babers came on board.

Falcons Beat Bulls in heated day at Stroh

A little tension and  confrontation can certainly put some fire into an otherwise sleepy Sunday afternoon in early February...and that was what the Falcons got with the Buffalo Bulls and in the end, once the victory was in the bag, it was twice as satisfying.

The Bulls have a new coach, as well all know, and his name is Bobby Hurley.  Dude is 100% insufferable.  There was not one call that went against his team that he did not dispute.  Apparently, players he coaches don't travel, commit defensive fouls, 3 second violations, charge, or go over the back.  It is unthinkable.  The only just world is one in which, at the end of the game, Buffalo has 0 fouls.

He actually bullied the refs for much of the game.  They were constantly coddling him, running over to explain things to him, listening to him.  And, he just got more and more truculent.  He was, eventually, the focal point of the game.

Somewhere along the way, Javon McCrea was called for traveling, which is, of course, completely unthinkable.  There was a little back and forth between Coach Stone and McCrea and then the Buffalo coaches got involved.  Stone was really hot.  McCrea and Stone got T'd up.  There was verbal sniping...then, later, on the way to the locker room, and then after the game.

Coach Stone is feisty, but you don't see this kind of thing very often.  I never thought a Buffalo coach could make me miss Witherspoon.

In fact, Hurley played a significant role in his team's demise.  With about 4 minutes left, UB was up 66-60.  They had BG on the ropes.  BG had been playing in foul trouble the whole way and was ripe to be taken.  Had Hurley been spending more time watching the actual game and less time screaming at the refs, he might have noticed this.

Instead, he decided to take the air out of the ball.  It worked.  They did not score again until there were :17 left in the game and then not again.  From the minute he made that call, UB scored 2 more points.

Then, with 2:28 and Buffalo still up 2, McCrea was called for his 5th foul.  Hurley freaked out and finally earned himself a T...when there were 2 minutes left in a close game.  On the road.

That's some fine coachin' there.

BG made the technical free throws and then split the shots from the foul...got the rebound and earned another foul and then sunk both of these free throws for a 5-point Hurley-fueled trip down the court and BG was up 3, a lead they would not relinquish.

Statistically, BG had their third straight poor defensive game.  The difference was that BG's offense delivered.  BG scored 1.12 points per possession, which is their best D1 game this season.  BG did not shoot especially well...below their season average.  However, BG took good care of the ball while having an incredible night on the offensive boards (2nd best of the season) and getting to the FT line.  BG shot 33 FTs and made 69.7% for a +5 advantage.

Buffalo ended up scoring 1.03 points per possession, which is below their season average.  As you can see below, shooting was even and the Bulls had a slight advantage in turnovers, but BG's advantages in rebounding and free throws was decisive.

College Basketball Stats

It was BG's 3rd straight game allowing more than 1 point per possession after 10 straight under 1 point per possession.  I don't know if teams are figuring something out or BG is just in a little slump, but the Falcons are not as effective on defense as they used to be.  It is the least efficient defense that has actually yielded a victory...the previous high was North Dakota.

It was a pretty gritty win for the Falcons.  Because of foul trouble, Anthony Henderson only played 20 minutes and Black only played 16.  So, not only was BG battling (most of the time from behind) against a team that has a bunch of good players and doing it with 7 scholarship players, but two of those guys were in foul trouble.

Of course, Buffalo had Hurley.

And BG had Parker, Clarke and Holmes.

Spencer Parker had a career high 23 points on 6 of 13 shooting and 10 of 14 from the line.  When Parker is productive, BG is tough to beat.  He also added 7 rebounds and had only 1 turnovers.  Also having a career night--if not a career scoring high--was Jehvon Clarke, who came within a whisper of a triple double.  He had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists against 3 turnovers.  He was also steady with the ball throughout the game and provided a glue for BG when the game was tight.

Richaun Holmes had 16 points on 5 of 12 shooting to go with 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.

BG needed minutes from Gomez and Tisdale and got them.  While neither generated big stats, they both did their job when pressed into duty and allowed BG to complete the late comeback.

It was a very satisfying win.  For as long as Hurley stays in the MAC, I suspect he is going to be the Coach everyone loves to hate.  Hopefully, he will continue to undermine his team as he did today.  Beyond that, BG deserves credit for a gritty and gusty effort to get the win.  Things don't get easier, but this one was nice.

Back to non-bizarro world....

So, after I posted about MAC bizarro world where the home teams were losing...the homes teams have won 9 out of 11 games.  Order has been restored to the universe.

Football gets o-line verbal

#BGSU adds a commitment from Cleveland Heights, Ohio OL DeAngelo Ware http://t.co/HAlWwfCVLQ
— Josh Helmholdt (@JoshHelmholdt) February 1, 2014

BG has lost 2 lineman since the Coaching change--one a Virginia boy who decided to stay home at Richmond and another who got an offer to play in the Big 10 at Minnesota.   So, BG went out and got a commitment from DeAngelo Ware from Cleveland Heights, OH.  He's a good-sized young man at 6'5" and 310.  There's no indication he got other offers, though he may have.

He was All-District First team, Cleveland.Com all-area special mention and All-State Honorable Mention. 

He played for a really good team, going 10-2 and losing to St. Ed's in the state playoffs.  They were ranked #9 in the Cleveland metro area by cleveland.com.

Welcome to the Falcons, DeAngelo.

Da (NY) Bulls

When last we saw the Buffalo Bulls, we didn't know it but it was the waning days of the Ol' Buzzer Banger, Reggie Witherspoon.  Since then, their AD saw a chance to upgrade the program as part of his ambitious but plausible attempt to elevate Buffalo to the State University of New York and probably move to the AAC or something.  Anyway, he ditched the 'Spoon and went and got a guy named Hurley who was once the #7 pick in the NBA draft and he had a less than ideal start but they are rolling now.

Buffalo is 11-6 overall and 5-2 in the MAC.  Right now, that's tied for 3rd, which could change based on the OU-UT game being played right now.

One thing is that they are a very good team at home and not so good away.  They are 9-0 in Alumni Arena and 2-4 on the road.  In the MAC, they have 4 home wins (NIU, EMU, Kent and WMU) and one road win (NIU) while losing @Ball and @UT (by 2).

You don't start talking about Buffalo without talking about Javon McCrea.  He's scoring 17.7 PPG (2nd in MAC) on 58% shooting (2nd in MAC) with 9.2 rebound per game (2nd in MAC) and 4 offensive rebounds per game (1st in MAC) and 2.6 blocked shots  (3rd in MAC).  He's also 5th in FTs made.

Yes, he's a senior.

Their 2nd leading scorer is a newcomer...Joshua Freelove.  At one point he was at UT, and then he played his JR year at Alabama State, where he was the leading scorer.  They had an APR meltdown and he looked at Auburn and then transferred to UB.  Because of the APR issues, he was immediately eligible.  He's a 6'2" G averaged 12.5 PPG on 45% shooting overall and 37% from beyond the arc.

Will Regan is averaging 10.5 PPG on 52% shooting and also averages 6 rebounds per game.  Finally, their PG, Jarrod Oldham is averaging 5.5 assists per game, which is #2 in the MAC.

No doubt.  This is a very solid basketball team.  You can see why below.  They are 4th in the MAC in offensive efficiency and in defensive efficiency.  You'd like to think BG can compete with them with solid defense, but BG has had two very poor defensive efforts in the last two games.  That will need to get corrected, because it is unlikely BG will beat Buffalo if they get to 72, which is about their average.

None of the numbers justify Buffalo being as efficient as they are.  They are 6th in EFG%,  6th in turnover %, 4th in offensive rebounds, 7th in FT Rate and 6th in FT%.  So, no strong areas and no really weak areas, so that is where they stand.  BG is going to need to bring that shooting % down and do a better job on the offensive boards than they have been--that's an area where McCrea and the Bulls could go crazy.  In terms of turnovers and FTs, they are getting about what BG is allowing.

Finally, looking at the Bull defense.  Here, things are pretty evenly matched.  BG is going to need to win some battles.  The prognosis would be for a shortage of second chance points for BG (Bulls are 2nd in MAC in defensive rebounding) and the Falcons are going to have to make more shots than they would expect.  Also, if BG gets to the line, they can't afford not to convert.

One last note.  I believe that this is the 2nd time in BG history that former NBA players are coaching against each other.  Of course, the first was the Orr-Thomas matchup.  Anyway, perhaps someone else knows better.

Buffalo has not been as good on the road, but BG has not been playing very well at home either.  BG has certainly shown themselves to be capable of delivering the kind of game that would beat Buffalo, but it is hard to tell which team will show up.  BG will not win with an average game.  Buffalo is a very solid team.